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February 27, 2004

The Verizon Foundation has made a grant of $3,850 to fund subscriptions to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s award-winning Electronic Field Trips for 11 Virginia schools in the Middle Peninsula and the Northern Neck regions during the 2003-2004 school year.

“Electronic Field Trips allow students to become actively engaged in the history of their country,” said Richard McCluney, Colonial Williamsburg’s vice president of productions, publications and learning ventures. “The programs -- designed for upper elementary and middle school students -- support Virginia curricula and standards of learning. We are grateful to the Verizon Foundation for their generous grant which will help students better understand the ‘idea of America.’”

Each one-hour Electronic Field Trip presents historical dramatizations and interactive resources, allowing students in the classroom to actively experience our American life, issues and traditions using the 21st century communications technology available in their school. On Electronic Field Trip days, students in registered schools speak directly to Colonial Williamsburg historians and interpreters live in the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s television studio, by telephone and on the Internet.

Colonial Williamsburg historians and staff members engage students to answer their American history questions. Students use dedicated websites for each program, participate in Internet activities and post questions and comments to Colonial Williamsburg’s historians throughout the school year. The programs, broadcast monthly from October to April during the school year, are supported with comprehensive teacher’s guides, Internet activities and discussion groups.

“Colonial Williamsburg’s Electronic Field Trip series delivers solid historical content via a variety of media, exposing teachers and students alike to important interactive technology,” said Jim Griffith, Verizon area manager. “Verizon is proud to be part of this cutting edge educational experience, which has the significant benefit of honing the technological skills of American youth while at the same time bringing the past to life for the nation’s future leaders.”